Team building events are an essential part of a healthy and productive business, connecting with and engaging your employees, and establishing a collaborative company culture. As work becomes more and more remote, companies are looking for creative ways to unwind and spend time with their team virtually. 

The chance to unite your team over delicious food in a fun, interactive live cooking class is an easy sell! With that said, we’re fully aware that Zoom fatigue is no joke, and everyone’s been to a Zoom happy hour in the past year they wish they could take back. With that in mind, we broke down our top 5 tips for planning a virtual team building event to remember:

Tip #1: Turn to Truffle Shuffle 😉

 

We (humbly) believe we kill it in the virtual cooking & event world for a few key reasons: 

• Our team: we could write an entire article about how incredible our team of Chefs are, but we’ll spare you and give you the quick summary instead: The backbone of Truffle Shuffle, our team of Studio Chefs hail from some of the world's top Michelin-starred kitchens. They’re kind, passionate, and insanely adept communicators who can teach you how to flambé a Sauce Diane and make you cry laughing at the same time. 
• Our service: we’ll let you in on a top-level industry secret: the vast majority of your team doesn’t want to grocery shop for a work event! We select the finest ingredients and hand pack them with love in the Bay Area, then ship them straight to your guests’ doors—making your virtual team building event all of the fun, none of the hassle.
   

Tip #2: Learn a Tangible Life Skill

 

How often do you leave a virtual team building event with a skill you’ll use for the rest of your life?! This is one of the qualities that we’re most proud of here at Truffle Shuffle.

For those on your team who keep their food delivery apps queued, they’ll easily walk away with a brand new skill that will enrich their lives. And, because our team of Chefs have so much real-world experience in top kitchens, even that employee who posts their weekend cooking projects in the “EATS!” Slack channel every Monday is sure to leave with an exciting new culinary trick or technique up their sleeve. 

 

 

Tip #3: Engage

 

Interaction and engagement are two of our highest priorities in our live virtual cooking classes. We design each experience to promote active participation through a lighthearted, laughter-filled cooking class. With that said, you can choose to go the extra mile and plan activities that we’ve found further boost team engagement: 

• Award show: fully utilize the time after your team has made a Michelin-level meal. At this point, they’ll be eating their beautiful dish, basking in their new back-pocket culinary skills, and already feeling unbelievably impressed with themselves. We’ve found this to be the perfect time for you to take over and host your annual award show, where you can highlight the unique talents your diverse team brings to the table. 
• Competition: we’ve all seen the high-stakes cooking competitions on TV where chefs furiously whisk and cry at the same time (the “whisk and cry”). This is not exactly the competition we have in mind for your virtual team building event (though impressions are always encouraged!). Plan a healthy competition around who takes the best, most delicious looking, Insta-worthy finished dish photo (hint: it’s an “everyones a winner” situation 😉).

For more tips on making your next Truffle Shuffle event extra special, check out our guide here. 

 

Tip #4: Take it Easy. 

 

Though team building events are an undeniably important aspect to the success of your business, working out the nitty gritty details of a virtual team building event is not the best use of your time. From RSVPs to answering guests’ burning questions to sending all the ingredients to your team’s door, we take care of the small stuff for you, so you can focus on the big-picture—and kick back and enjoy the experience with your team stress-free!

Tip #5: Add a Surprise! 

 

There are so many opportunities to go all-out for your awesome team, really showing them how much you appreciate all of their hard work. We offer a number of add-ons, and have worked with clients to go above and beyond for their team building events. Popular add-ons include: 

• Cocktail/mocktail mixers: shake things up with our Bar Master & Co-Founder Sarah’s famous cocktail/mocktail mixers! We’ll send your guests a handmade mixer that pairs perfectly with your dish, and teach your guests professional mixology skills. 
• Live performance: From the cast of Hamilton singing “Alexander Hamilton” to Snoop Rapping “Gin & Juice” to David Hernandes serenading with “Boomerang,” we have done it all! We work with professional artists and entertainers who will keep your guests engaged and make your event truly special. Imagine having an American Idol finalist  singing your company song while your team kneads fresh pasta dough!! We can make it happen.
• Artisanal Products: Keep things simple and add a surprise takeaway in each kit! Choose from our line of artisanal truffle products, from our world-famous Truffle Carpaccio to our irresistible Brown Butter Truffle Honey to our put-it-on-everything Balinese Truffle Salt. Oh, did we mention our Truffle Kettlecorn??! We can throw that in there too 😉.

FAQs

 

How do I sign up for an event?

Simply fill out the form on our Private Events page, and one of our dedicated Event Managers will contact you to answer all of your questions and help you select a time and menu for the day of your event. We’ll take care of the rest from there, including invitations and RSVPs! 

Half of my team has dietary restrictions. Can you accommodate?

Absolutely! We love working with each guest to create the virtual event that’s perfect for them and their unique team, including tailoring the menu to accommodate any dietary restrictions. 

How do you navigate virtual teams on opposite coasts?

We keep our classes to around two hours, and look for times that bridge the gaps between busy schedules and time differences. 

Help! I know nothing about cooking!!!!

From seasoned professionals to “how do I boil this egg again?” Googlers, our team of Chefs loves sharing their knowledge and passion with each and every guest they host. They’re master communicators, offering easy-to-follow instruction and constantly checking in to make sure no guest is left behind! 

Do you require specialized equipment?

Our signature recipes are designed to be cooked in an average home kitchen, so no specialized culinary equipment is required! Plus, upon signup, each of your guests will receive a detailed list of all the equipment they’ll use throughout the class, so they can rest assured they’ll be prepared for their virtual cooking experience. 

Let’s Cook Together!

 

We’ve been on a mission to connect the world through food, turning curious home cooks into Master Chefs one virtual cooking class at a time. Through our virtual cooking classes, we’ve maintained a firm commitment to give back to our community, volunteering our time at local food banks and donating food to people in need for every kit sold. 

We feel so lucky for this food-&-people-loving community we’ve created. We know our great-big Truffle Shuffle family will be better with you and your team on board! We can’t wait to cook with you.